Moondancer
by fbeauchamphartz
Summary: Sebastian is a powerful werewolf, searching for his mate. In order to find the mate he wants, he has to seek out the aid of lowest vermin in their world - wolf trappers, men who make a living from hunting, capturing, and in some cases, killing ones of his kind. On the night of a silver moon, Sebastian comes across a boy who might be just what he's looking for? Kurt H. Sebastian S.


**A/N:** _Okay, I wrote this one-shot as one of five presents for the amazing freakingpotter on tumblr…pretty much just because I wanted to. __Warning for angst, caging, slight implied D/s elements. Enjoy!_

The first thing that hits Sebastian when the guard opens the double-doors to the pens is the smell. The stench of unbathed - and in some cases disease ridden - wolf is overwhelming. It would be awful for weak, human noses, but for one such as him, with a heightened sensitivity to smell, the stink of his kind in these cramped, hot quarters, and filthy conditions is a level of disgusting unknown to most – human and wolf alike.

Sebastian loathes the pens.

Sebastian is no humanitarian. The fact that the cages are often too small for their occupants doesn't concern him. He couldn't care less that there are a multitude of wolves here riddled with mange, mites, and a slew of other untreated infections. The possibility that many of these captured beasts have not been fed for days - especially now, during the change, when they would need nourishment the most - and might not last the night means nothing to him.

Unless he happens to find the one he wants among this mongrel lot – the one wolf he longs for, the one he needs. Then he will raise holy hell.

Sebastian hates that he has to try and hunt down a mate this way, but he has no other choice. He's not looking for just _any_ wolf. He's looking for someone like him. Someone with power.

A wolf like that will not likely be found merely walking the streets. They will undoubtedly be an outcast, even among members of their own family. They will take to the woods, become wild, scarcely making their way, lying low, afraid for themselves.

Afraid _of_ themselves.

No, the best chance Sebastian has is to go to the trappers – grotesque bottom-feeders that they are, making money off his kind, alive or dead.

Turning over a single cent to them will be like slitting his own wrists.

Sebastian walks down the narrow aisle if cages, each filled to bursting with a wolf baying at him for help, begging to be freed. There's a degree to which it tugs at his heart, but he does nothing. He can't risk exposing himself for what he is, and besides, if these simple creatures are stupid and careless enough to get caught, then they deserve what they get.

Sebastian has convinced himself of this. It's the only way he can see his kind treated this way, leave them, and still sleep at night.

Fifteen different times he's been here already, listening to pitiful creatures rattling their cages, and he has never even come close to finding the one he needs. But tonight will be the night. He feels it in his bones. Outside above them where they cannot see shines the face of a silver moon.

A _power_ moon.

A moon that calls to him with all its might to unleash his wolf, and with everything the wolf inside him is, it pleads with Sebastian to answer that call, but he can't. Not yet. Not when he's so close that the blood in his veins vibrates, his dual hearts stuttering in his chest.

As he closes in on the end of the row of cages, he feels a pull that is stronger than that of the moon.

And like the providence that he knew the silver moon would be for him, Sebastian finds him.

He finds the one.

"Now, who is this?" Sebastian asks, his hearts jumping in his chest.

Sebastian is playing the fool. He knows exactly who it is.

The occupant of this last cage is soon-to-be Sebastian's new mate.

He appears to be not a wolf, but a man – no more than a boy, really – naked, lying on the floor of his cage, legs bent at the knees, forced that way by the tight confines, glassy blue eyes staring blankly at a spot above their heads.

"We're not entirely sure," the ignorant trapper answers, scratching the back of his filthy neck with his equally filthy hand. "The man what brought him in says he's a wolf, but we've had him two lunar cycles and we've seen absolutely no change."

"So, why keep him?" Sebastian asks, kneeling low to try and catch the boy's eyes, to call his bluff if he can.

"Because the other wolves react to him," the guard says. "If he's not a wolf, then he's a _something_ at least."

Sebastian looks into the boy's solemn, expressionless face. He focuses on the boy's eyes, trying to touch his mind and force him to react, but there are walls blocking him – powerful walls protecting this boy's wolf.

Walls that will take Sebastian time and patience to break down.

The boy looks calm by all outward respects, but Sebastian can see the toll that resisting the moon has taken - his lip curls a bit, quivering with restraint, the muscles beneath the skin of his cheeks twitching as he continually subdues his wolf, his neck straining, pulse visibly thrumming through his skin.

Just like Sebastian, he is biding, but he won't be able to maintain for much longer - not locked in here.

"This is the one," Sebastian says with a wide, toothy grin, not even turning around to acknowledge the guard behind him. "This is the one I want."

"Are you sure?" the burly guard asks, squinting at the boy. "I mean, we're not exactly sure what he is yet so we can't guarantee…"

"I don't care what he is," Sebastian snaps, losing patience, his wolf eager to be out of the pens and home with his mate. "Just draw up the bill of sale. I'm taking him home _now_."

"Uh…alright," the guard grumbles. Confused by Sebastian's outburst, his sudden change in mood, the man shrugs and turns, heading out of the pens the way they came. "It's your money. If you want to waste it…"

But Sebastian stops paying attention the moment he makes his demand. He moves closer to the boy in the cage. He can see him better at this range, bowing low. Even stuck in this grim place, he has perfect pale, almost white skin, marked here and there faintly, no doubt from the trappers attempts at forcing him to change – an infraction that Sebastian will ensure someone gets whipped for, severely, if possible. His bluish-silver eyes look past Sebastian, but Sebastian can see their intelligence. The boy is aware…and he's listening to every word spoken.

"So, my pet," Sebastian whispers, "this is how you survive – you lay still until the world gives up on you and leaves you alone." Sebastian chuckles at the genius of this wolf, and at the stupidity of those who cannot recognize the wonder he truly is. "But I know who you are. You're like me. You know how to dance around the moon's power. You have the ability to resist the change. You have other abilities as well, so I can assure you that _I_ will never tire of you." Sebastian's smile becomes a grin of pure dominance, his wolf longing to have his way with the beautiful wolf hiding inside this boy's mind. "You don't need to move a muscle or say a word for what I have planned."

Only then does Sebastian see a hint of change. The boy's human eyes shift for a second, the wolf within him rising up to protect the boy. The boy shivers and the wolf disappears, but Sebastian's wolf got his taste of him – and he's chomping at the bit for more.

Sebastian chuckles at the wolf's show of defiance.

He can't wait to get the boy home and see if he can make his wolf do that again.

The sound of jingling keys coming their way from the double-doors makes Sebastian's sly grin grow impossibly wider.

"Now, now, little Moondancer, don't you worry," he says, sotto voce so only the boy and his wolf can hear. "I'm going to collar you and take you home…then I can teach you how to be a good little mate."


End file.
